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What’s wrong with the Dallas Cowboys?

I was way too annoyed and angry with the Cowboys to write about the game until this evening. I don’t throw a fit when they lose or get emotional about it usually. But this time, I was feeling disgust. The Cowboys have so much potential that isn’t being realized, watching them fail to score time and again left me in a somewhat disgruntled state. Plus, Dallas continues to exhibit the same problems that have plagued them for the past few seasons. Some of this stuff is just getting old.

So, I’m asking myself, “What is wrong with these guys?” Like do they not like winning? ‘Cause winning is pretty great. But there are a few things wrong, and I’m gonna list them:

1. Play Calling that is just plain wrong: At least a handful (at least) of plays in the game are visibly clashing with the situation of the game. The downs, the yardage and the play clock are all determining factors in play-calling. And there are just those weird moments of bizarro football the Cowboys are playing in which the play called seems to take none of these things into account. I don’t understand and that is terribly frustrating to watch. It’s like the offense doesn’t really care about winning the game or scoring.

2. Negativity: Jason Garrett is like a statue. He shows little to no emotion during the games and I don’t think that is helping his team. This is linked to another major issue . . . but sticking on this one: Tony Romo is overwhelmingly negative in his emotional reactions. There is no celebrating and congratulating from Romo when the team scores or makes a great play. But when bad play is happening, he’s all over that with angry reactions for his players. The roles seem reversed and both men need to exhibit the appropriate amount of reaction to both good and bad plays.

3. Discipline of the players: While penalties do seem to be less of an issue than they have been in the past, there are deeper discipline issues on the Cowboys team. Players are not held accountable for bad plays or penalties. They are not held to a particularly high standard for level of play. Once something has been touched on and improved in one game, the focus is lost and with it the improvement. The defense supposed focus on turnovers is the perfect example. They focused hard on something for a whole week! And they really nailed it. . . then this week they lost the focus and there were no turnovers. This is a lack of discipline in coaching.

4. Self-doubt: This problem stems from Romo, but it really takes over the team. I guess you could call it a defeatist attitude. This sense of hopelessness and failure takes over and Romo can’t make anything happen. I don’t know if this goes back to the communications on the sideline. Is the team sending each other messages of doubt? Or is it a momentum issue. Bad plays are not gotten over easily or as quickly as they should be. Being able to move on to the next down and fully commit to its success would make for many more fantastic plays for the Cowboys.

There are probably a few other issues in truth, but these are the ones I see as most important. I really wish that the Cowboys would decide to be as successful as they could be. There are so many extremely talented players on their team and they have kept the same core group of players at great expense for their names and abilities. And yet it has amounted to nothing. I’d like to have more hope for this season, but it’s difficult to muster up. ‘Cause gosh darn it! What is wrong with these Cowboys?